Emma Raducanu will come back to tennis shortly and noted tennis coach Rick Macci isn't ready to count her out from contention.
As a former Grand Slam champion, Emma Raducanu, at the very least, deserved the benefit of the doubt. She couldn't prove her qualities since winning the US Open but she also didn't have a really prolonged stretch of being quite healthy.
She suffered many smaller injuries, which kept her from truly finding her best tennis, and it was very unfortunate. When she did play and looked healthy, Raducanu looked pretty solid.
That sort of level is certainly something that many expect from her, which is why Macci is reluctant to really count her out from being a contender as he revealed in an exclusive interview with Tennis Infinity.
She certainly has a chance to become one of the better players right now, but she'll need to remain healthy and actually play well consistently. Macci could see it happen because you don't really lose the talent, but he does worry if she has the desire.
You don't lose the talent or the skill; you lose the desire. With Emma, the only thing that's a little concerning when I hear she says, I wish I wouldn't have won the US Open, because everything changed. That's brutal.
That comment certainly surprised many people because it was an odd one, but you can kind of justify it. She's been dragged up and down by the media and fans alike, which is tough to deal with.
She's only human and quite young, so it will take some time for her to really get used to that amount of external pressure.
I respect her honesty, but as a little girl, you pick up the racket, you love to play, it's so innocent. Your goal is to like, 'I want to be like that someday.' I want to win tournaments and win a Grand Slam. But anybody at that age that can go through qualifying, win the US Open, you got the talent. You got amazing potential mentally, but now it's all against her.
In the end, Macci thinks she deserves a chance. We'll see what she does with it, but she's got what it takes to be great, but that's only part of the story. How bad you want it is the more important part.
So I wouldn't write her off. But just like Osaka, maybe not this year, but the following year, I think by the end of 2025, she could be top 10 in the world, if she is all in.
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